Currently there is no way to prompt for variable responses. In an upcoming release we will allow you to create an Action "Ask Variable" in which case you can create a TTS prompt tied to a HAL Variable and optionally also speak the contents of the HAL Variable.

So you could pose a Question ""It is 5pm. Do you want to eat?" if the check box is enable to also speak the variables, then you would also hear "apple, banana, orange" After the users response the Variable would be then set to the value which would trigger a Variable Change Event which could be evaluated in the Rules. If there was a time out / no response, the variable would be set to "No Response" which could also be evaluated in the rules area. You would simply have to create a HAL Variable with the desired choices before creating the Action "Ask Variable".

This Action has lots of possibilities such as a Macro "Raise the Bed". The Ask Variable could be "How far? a little, half way, all the way?"

Currently you can create a conditional macro with "Ask Yes/No" but you have to pose your prompt in a way to get a yes or no response and proceed from there.

Regards,

Tim

TimShriver

03-17-2015 11:15 AM

Re: Answers

It is probably a month or so off. I will check with Jim McGowan to get a better idea on the time frame.

Tim

dtomcat

03-18-2015 05:39 PM

Re: Answers

Tim,
I'm sure this is addressed... but just in case,
will this work if the user repeats the same request... so in your example "raise the bed"... if the user states "a little" then asks again and says "a little"... does that constitute a change? will the macro work?

-Rob

TimShriver

03-18-2015 05:49 PM

Re: Answers

LOL Jim and I spoke about that the first time we discussed this feature. I believe the feature will set the variable to one of two system defined states other than those provided by the user in the Variable setup. One is "No Response" in which case the user never spoke or it was unrecognized and the other is "Prompting" which is the state before the Variable is set to the User's response.

This will allow the Rule code to even pre-process some logic in anticipation of a response and also allow for the event change to be triggered.

Regards,
Tim

dtomcat

03-18-2015 06:01 PM

Re: Answers

now the only problem with that is the running each variable change event twice (not a problem for most systems)... but essentially the rule will run when set to "prompting"... then again on your response... and God forbid... someone create a rule of variable change to "prompting" LOL potential for infinite loop

TimShriver

03-18-2015 06:08 PM

Re: Answers

They won't be able to set the Variable to "Prompting"... That and "No Response" Are set by HAL. These variables are reserved and can't be added to the Variable list. So if you have an action to set the Variable, there is no choice for "Prompting" or "No Response" and hence no possible infinite loop

Tim

dtomcat

03-18-2015 06:25 PM

Re: Answers

Awesome!!!! can't wait... is there good HALws documentation yet? I'm looking forward to messing with it!

TimShriver

04-13-2015 07:16 PM

Re: Answers

Both the new Action options of Random TTS and the Ask Variable are all done and working well in v6.0.35 however in that build is the new Hue support which requires some more tweaking before release... It won't be long :-)